The Gift
by Sixty Five Roses
Summary: Andy Flynn was not looking forward to the holiday season, until he received a phone call from Rusty with an unusual request.


Lieutenant Andy Flynn was not very fond of the holiday season. With his family usually estranged, he was usually lonely on Christmas Eve and either volunteered to be on shift or went to sleep early. It was the only plausible alternative to watching all the sugary Christmas films that aired on television. When the loneliness became too great, he would attend a meeting and share his burden with his fellow AA.

He was not very excited about his current holiday plans. He has received an invitation from his daughter to join the family in a ballet performance. He would rather simply sit with them for dinner and then go home, but his daughter gave him two tickets to _The Nutcracker_ and told him to invite someone special.

He did feel incredibly popular this holiday season; Provenza invited him to join his Christmas dinner with Liz and their children and grandchildren, but given the chance to spend time with his family, he decided to pass.

His mobile phone beeped and he picked it up from the table and looked at the screen. He was a little worried when he saw the message was from Rusty.

_"Need to talk to you. It's urgent!"_

Without hesitating, Andy called Rusty's number, wondering why Rusty was messaging him when Sharon was supposed to be at home and he was surrounded by security detail. What if the kid ran away from his security detail or something happened to Sharon? Andy shivered as these thoughts crossed his mind.

"Hello," the kid picked up and Andy was only a little bit relieved that Rusty sounded fairly relaxed.

"Rusty, what's wrong?" he decided to cut to the chase.

"It's an emergency, Lieutenant Flynn. I really need your help," Rusty sounded more annoyed than scared and Andy was not sure what to make of it.

"Okay, calm down and tell me where you are. I'm gonna come and get you," Andy said, already up from his couch and putting his shoes on.

"No, no. It's not that kind of emergency," Rusty called out. "It's Sharon."

"What do you mean, it's Sharon? What happened to her?" Andy did not like it when people spoke in riddles, but he tried to be as patient with Rusty as he could.

"Nothing. She's asleep already. But…" The more Rusty tried to describe his situation, the more confused Andy became.

"Okay, relax, kid," he said. "Are you or someone else in life danger?"

"No. I'm fine; Sharon is fine," Rusty replied. "It's just… I need your help."

"I'm listening," Andy walked to the kitchen and pressed the button on the electric kettle. He took a mug and placed a teabag in it. Drinking tea was a habit he picked after Sharon offered to help him with his caffeine withdrawal.

"Christmas is in a week," Rusty started.

"Yeah," Andy agreed, as if he could deny it.

"Sharon and my security detail don't let me go anywhere and I can't leave the house even to take the trash out. I need to buy her a Christmas present, but I can't because I have to stay with my babysitters, which are not helpful **at all!**" Rusty explained, his voice distressed.

"So how can I help?" Andy wondered as he watched the steam coming off the kettle.

"If I give you money, could you go to the store for me and buy her a present?" Rusty asked.

"Sure, kid. What did you have in mind?" Andy asked. He found Rusty's desperate wish to buy Sharon a gift, despite the fact that he couldn't do it himself, endearing. The kid described the gift that he wanted to buy for his foster mother and Andy couldn't help but feeling a tad jealous that Rusty knew her so well that he could think of such an original idea. He's never been too original with gifts. He did not plan to give any gifts to anyone, save for his children and Provenza (he got him the ugliest tie he could find in the store), but now he decided to give one gift to Sharon as well. "That's a great idea, Rusty. I'm sure she'd love that. I'll go to the store tomorrow," he said.

"Thank you, Lieutenant Flynn. I'll bring you the money tomorrow," Rusty said.

"Say, kid," Andy hurried before Rusty hung up. "What are you and the Captain planning for the holiday?"

"We're cooking together and then we have dinner," Rusty said. "Then we watch TV."

"That's a great plan, Rusty," Andy said. He threw a glance at his watch.

"It was Sharon's plan," Andy imagined Rusty's words were accompanied by a shrug. "Anyway, I gotta go."

"You go to sleep, kid. Don't worry about the gift; I'll get it for you," Andy's voice was soft. He hung up the phone and stared into his tea mug for a long moment. At that moment he knew that his Christmas was going to be different this year; he would not feel lonely, not this year.

THE END


End file.
